PERSONALITY PROFILE OF F&B STAFF IN MALAYSIA

Transcription

1 PERSONALITY PROFILE OF F&B STAFF IN MALAYSIA Fakhrul Zaman Abdullah: Corresponding Author Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management University of Management and Technology, Malaysia Farah Liyana Bustamam School of Business, Hospitality & Tourism Management KBU International College, Malaysia ABSTRACT Being part of the people oriented industry, hotel organizations are to abide by the fact that their performances are measured through customers satisfaction. Due to this, human capital has been identified to be one of the key factors in determining the success or failure of a business. Hence, it is crucial for hotel organizations to select the right people with the right personality to represent the organizations. This study sought to investigate the personality profile of hotels Food and Beverage employees in Malaysia. A total of thirty-six (36) 4-star and 5-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur were involved and 165 employees participated in this study. Data were collected through self-administered survey questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and reliability analysis were used in the data analysis. According to the empirical analytic results, among the five personality traits, four (4) of the sub variables scored moderately high mean score with Extroversion (M=3.51, SD=.69), Openness (M=3.62, SD=.68), Agreeableness (M=3.51, SD=.53) and Conscientiousness (M=3.54, SD=.83) while Neuroticism scored moderate mean (M=3.37, SD=.60). Keywords: Personality, food and beverage employee, hotels 1. INTRODUCTION Frontline employees play a critical role in linking tourism and hospitality firms with customers to maintain longterm relationships (Kusluvan, 2003). Indeed, successful service firms have invested resources into programs in order to increase their employees performance and job satisfaction (George & Weimerskirch, 1994). Paradoxically, frontline employees are still undertrained, underpaid, and overworked (Singh, 2000). In apparent recognition of this, tourism and hospitality managers need to seek effective ways to be able to enhance the performance and job satisfaction of frontline employees. In an internal marketing perspective, tourism and hospitality managers need to do a great job with their frontline employees, before expecting them to deliver superior services to customers (George, 1990). Therefore, identification of employees personality is imperative in determining the type of motivation that may influence their job satisfaction level, hence, this study sought to investigate the personality profile of Food & Beverage employees in hotels in Malaysia. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Personality Personality has been defined in a very broad manner by those who have done thorough studies on it. Some of the studies include Allport (1961) and Ryckman (1997) who have defined personality as the dynamic and organized set values of an individual that exclusively influences his/her cognitive drives and behaviors. While Cattell (1995) concluded that personality refers to psychological and physical behavioral patterns shown in any diverse circumstances and they are stable over time. A studies by Tellegen (1991) defined traits as a psychological (therefore) organismic structure underlying a relatively enduring behavioral disposition, i.e., a tendency to respond in certain ways under certain circumstances. Additionally, personality was defined by Guthrie, Coate and Schoewer (1998) in their studies as one s tendency to react or behave in a distinguished manner as to respond to his/ her environment. Furnham (1990) classified personality theories into three schools: benevolent clecticism which describes a long and venerable line of personality theories; partisan zealots who present only one theory in which they believe and enthusiastic taxonomists who classify theories according to their epistemological origins. Ryckman (1997), who belongs to the third school (enthusiastic taxonomist), categorized personality theories into five perspectives such as psychoanalytic perspective, trait perspective, cognitive perceptive, existential perspective and social behavioristic perspective. The psychoanalytic 24

2 perspective is biological in nature and based on the unfolding of a series of stages in which particular behaviors occur (Ryckman, 1997). The trait perspective assumes that there are dispositional factors that regularly and persistently determine conduct in a variety of everyday situations (Furnham, 1990). The cognitive perspective assumes that people's personality is never completely determined; people are changeful and always free to reinterpret their experiences in idiosyncratic ways (Ryckman, 1997). The existential perspective postulates the existence of an innate growth that moves individuals toward realization of their potentialities if environmental conditions are right (Ryckman, 1997). Lastly, the social behavioristic perspective assumes that most of our behavior is learned and purposive; we are guided by our motives to attain certain goals (Ryckman, 1997).Unlike psychoanalytic and existential perspectives, the social behavioristic perspective is not interested in the growth stages. In contrast, it is similar to the trait perspective which assumes that personality refers to regularities and consistencies in the behavior of individuals (Snyder and Ickes, 1985). However, the social behavioristic perspective asserts that our personality or behavior is learned, rather than innate. People's experiences and interactions continually influence one another (Rotter et al., 1972), and behavior occurs as a result of complex interplay between inner processes and environmental influences (Bandura, 1971). 3. METHODOLOGY 3.1 Data collection and analysis This study used self-administered questionnaire in order to examine the study variables; personality in the context of hotel industry. The respondents were the hotel employees of Foods and Beverages Department who work in the coffee house. Since lunch hour is always busy, this present study opted for only one working shift that is from 7.00am to 3.00pm. Self-administered questionnaires were used in this study for the purpose of data collection. This method is much known for its advantages that could be fast and economical as well as provides wide coverage of range of situation (Zikmund, 2003; Sekaran, 2004). The questionnaires were printed in the form of booklet for the convenience of the respondents and were hand delivered directly to a representative of each participating hotel. These representatives assisted in distributing the questionnaires to the employees who work in the coffee house of the hotel. The respondents were given an approximate time frame of two weeks to complete the questionnaire and return them to the representative. Follow-up calls were made to these representatives as to monitor on the progress of the responses and prior to collection of the questionnaires, final telephone calls were made in order to confirm the date of collection. The completed questionnaires were self collected by the researcher. The total duration of data collection was approximately three months. 3.2 Measurement Personality The personality profile was assessed using 44 item Big Five Inventory (BFI) developed by John, Donahue, and Kentle (1991). These 44 items were utilized in this study to measure neuroticism (8 items), extroversion (8 items), openness (10 items), agreeableness (9 items) and conscientiousness (9 items). All of the personality items were used to enable respondents to choose the level of agreement or disagreement of each item to reflect themselves at given situations in the constructs using Five-point Likert scale ranging from 1-disagree strongly to 5-agree strongly. The reliability of the instrument has been tested in many previous researches (Benet-Martinez & John, 1998; John & Srivastava, 1999). This was supported by Gosling et al. (2003) in which their study had consistently yielded coefficient alpha ranging from.76 to.83 while the Cronbach s alpha value by Plaisant et al. (2010) ranging from.77 to.84. Soto and John (2009) in their studies had tested the instrument in three different samples. In the community sample, the alpha reliabilities averaged.72 (range =.63 to.84) while in the student sample, the alphas averaged.70 (range =.53.83). Meanwhile, their final retest reliabilities averaged.80 (range =.71.88) Demographic Profile The demographic profiles such as job tenure, organizational tenure, education level, race/ethnicity, gender, age and marital status were also measured in this study. 4. RESULT 4.1 Profile of Respondents Table 1: Respondents Demographic Profiles 25

3 Profiles Categories Frequencies Percentage (%) Job tenure Less than 1 year 2 5 years 6 9 years More than 10 years Organizational Tenure Less than 1 year 2 5 years 6 9 years More than 10 years Education level Less than high school High school Diploma Bachelor degree Others Race/ Ethnicity Malay Chinese Indian Others Gender Male Female Age Below and above Marital status Single Married Separated Divorced Table 1 shows the demographic profiles of the respondents. It includes details consisting of job tenure, organizational tenure, education level, race/ ethnicity, gender, age and marital status. The table outlines the frequency of each profile and their respective percentage values. Job tenure of the respondents in which those have been in the position for 2 5 year ranked the highest with 63 of them which represents 38.2 percent. The ranking followed by 62 of employees with less than 1 year experience, with a percentage of 37.6 percent. 19 respondents which is equivalent to 17.6 percent have 6 9 years tenure and lastly there were 11 respondents representing 6.7 percent of the total respondents held the position for more than 10 years. In contrast, 47.3 percent which equivalent to 78 respondents have less than 1 year organizational tenure while 32.7 percent representing 54 employees with 2 5 years tenure. The duration of 6 9 years is represented by 11.5 percent which represented 29 employees and the remaining 8.5% are those been working with the hotel for more than 10 years. The majority of 92 respondents representing 55.8 percent were high school leavers, followed by 18.2 percent which equivalent to 30 respondents with diploma and 12.1 percent which representing 20 respondents with bachelor degree. Next, 9.7 percent or 16 of the respondents attended less than high school and the last 7 employees with the remaining 4.7 percent are represented by other qualification such as certificate holders. The Malays were the highest respondents with significant percentage of 63 percent or 104 respondents while the 26

4 Chinese, Indians, and others followed by 18.8 percent (31 respondents), 10.9 percent (18 respondents) and 7.3 percent (12 respondents) respectively. The distribution of gender was higher for male respondents with a total percentage of 59.4 percent while female respondents were represented by 40.6 percent of the total respondents. The age range shows that the most respondents were of the age years (35.2 percent), followed by those aged years (29.1 percent), years (17.0 percent), years (10.9 percent), below 20 years (6.1 percent) and the least was 41 years and above (1.8%). The marital status of the respondents was distributed into the highest percentage of 52.1 percent (86 respondents) to single respondents, 44.2 percent which equivalent to 73 respondents are married, 3.0 percent or 5 are divorced and the lowest was separated with 0.6 percent (1 respondent). 4.2 Descriptive analysis of the Personality Dimensions Table 2: Descriptive Analysis for Neuroticism 1. Is depressed Is relaxed Tense Worries Emotionally stable Moody Remain Calm Nervous easily Based on Table 2, the mean score for eight (8) items on Neuroticism ranges from 2.95 to 3.53, which indicated moderate scores for seven (7) items and one (1) item with low mean score. The highest mean score among all the items was I see myself as someone who is relaxed (M=3.53, SD=.98). The item I see myself as someone who is depressed had the lowest mean score of M=2.95, SD=.95. The probable reason for this low mean score could be that these respondents could not measure how depressed they could be and believed that they are capable of handling critical situations. Table 3: Descriptive Analysis for Extroversion 1. Is talkative Is reserved Is full of energy Generates a lot of enthusiasm Tends to be quiet Has an assertive personality Is sometimes shy Is outgoing

5 Table 3 stated the mean score of all items in the second dimension of Personality that is Extroversion. Among the eight (8) items, I see myself as someone who is full of energy (M=3.81, SD=.94) had the highest mean score. In contrast, I see myself as someone who tends to be quiet (M=3.19, SD=1.06) was the lowest score among all. From the score of Extroversion, it could be seen that the eight (8) items had a moderate mean score. The probable reason for the lowest score could be due to the fact that the actual work environment in Food & Beverage Department requires employees to communicate hence it is rare to see quiet people in the department since they are not suitable for the position. Table 4: Descriptive analysis for Openness 1. New ideas Curious Deep thinker Active imagination Inventive Values artistic, aesthetic experiences Prefers work that is routine Likes to reflect, plays with ideas Has few artistic interests Is sophisticated Based on the analyzed data, Table 4 shows the mean scores of ten (10) items in Openness of mean score ranges from 3.50 to 3.76 indicating a moderate score. The item with the highest mean score M=3.76, SD=.88 is I see myself as someone who is ingenious, a deep thinker. On the other hand, I see myself as someone who is inventive gained the least score with M=3.50, SD=.77. The least score may be driven by employees belief that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) they have to adhere to while at work would restrict this capability hence it is to no avail to be inventive. Table 5: Descriptive Analysis for Agreeableness 1. Tends to find fault Is helpful and unselfish with others Starts quarrels with others Has forgiving nature Generally trusting Can be cold Is considerable Sometimes rude Likes to cooperate

6 Referring to Table 5, the nine (9) items of Agreeableness has a mean score ranging from 2.63 to From the results, it could be seen that seven (7) items had moderate scores while two (2) items had low scores. The highest mean score was the item I see myself as someone who likes to cooperate (M=4.18, SD=.81) while among the two (2) items with low scores, the item I see myself as someone who starts quarrels with others was the lowest (M=2.63, SD=1.05) and the second lowest item (M=2.97, SD=1.10) was I see myself as someone who tends to find fault. The probable reason for this is that it is not easy to find people who are willing to admit that they are the cause of unintended incidents as everyone realizes that it is not a good attitude that one may want to acknowledge. Table 6: Descriptive analysis for Conscientiousness 1. Thorough job Somewhat careless Is a reliable worker Tends to be disorganized Tends to be lazy Perseveres Efficient Makes plan Easily distracted Table 6 outlines the mean scores for the last nine (9) items of Conscientiousness dimension under Personality variable. Based on the results, the score ranges from 2.78 to 3.90 and indicated seven (7) items had a moderate score while two (2) items are found to have low mean score. I see myself as someone who makes plan and follows through with them was the item with highest mean score (M=3.90, SD=.97) and I see myself as someone who tends to be lazy (M=2.78, SD=1.17) was the least scored item. Another item with low mean score was I see myself as someone who tends to be disorganized (M=2.95, SD=1.22). The probable low score may be due to the fact that the employees felt that they have never stood a chance to be lazy and not doing any work since they had to work very hard especially during peak hours at the coffee house. On the other hand, being disorganized may be impermissible in the hotel work environment hence respondents are aware that they must be good at self and work management. 5. DISCUSSION The objective of the study to investigate the personality profiles of Food and Beverage employees who work in hotels in Malaysia. The findings have shown that the overall mean score for personality measures was moderately high (M=3.52, SD=.56) with the entailing five sub-variables; Neuroticism scored moderate mean (M=3.37, SD=.60) while the rest of the sub variables scored moderately high mean score with Extroversion (M=3.51, SD=.69), Openness (M=3.62, SD=.68), Agreeableness (M=3.51, SD=.53) and Conscientiousness (M=3.54, SD=.83). Table 7: Overall Mean Score and Standard Deviation Variables/ Sub-variables N Mean Standard Deviation Personality Neuroticism Extroversion Openness Agreeableness Conscientiousness

7 The results of this present study are able to provide both theoretical and practical implications. The findings of the study enrich the body of literature by demonstrating empirical evidence of the role of personality types in hotel. The personality measures have been a popular tool for personnel selection and placement of employees in hotel industry (Worsfold, 1989). Therefore, the results of this study are able to strengthen the use of personality testing in the hotel industry by validating the impact of individual personality. For the lodging industry, it continues to be important to find the right personnel who can interact with guests in a friendly and charming manner (part of the agreeableness dimension) at all times. Hiring employees with this trait can be even more critical for the success of up-scale lodging properties than budget hotels because of guest higher expectations of personalized services. As a result, in order to find suitable applicants for hotel positions, human resource managers should pay close attention to agreeableness as well as extroversion, which is often regarded as more of the influential positive affectivity on occupational behaviors. REFERENCES 1. Allport, Gordon W. (1961). Pattern and growth in personality. Oxford, England: Holt, Reinhart & Winston. 2. Bandura, A. (1971). Social Learning Theory. General Learning Press, Morristown, NJ. 3. Benet-Martınez, V., & John, O. P. (1998).Los Cinco Grandes: Across cultures and ethnic groups: Multitrait-multimethod analyses of the Big Five in Spanish and English. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, Cattell, Raymond B., Cattell, & Heather E. P. (1995). Personality structure and the new fifth edition of the 16PF. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 55(6), Furnham, A. (1990). The development of single trait personality theories. Personality and Individual Differences, 11, George, S., & Weimerskirch, A. (1994). Total quality management: Strategies and techniques proven at today's most successful companies, Wiley, New York. 7. George, W.R. (1990). Internal marketing and organizational behavior: A partnership in developing customer-conscious employees at every level. Journal of Business Research, 20, Gosling, S.D., Rentfrow, P. J., & Swann Jr., W. B. (2003). A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, Guthrie, J.P., Coate, C.J., & Schwoerer, C.E. (1998). Career management strategies: the role of personality. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 13(5/6), John, O. P., Donahue, E. M., & Kentle, R. L. (1991). The Big Five Inventory--Versions 4a and 54. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research. 11. John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin, & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research ( ). New York: Guilford Press. 12. Kusluvan, S. (2003). Employee attitudes and behaviors and their roles for tourism and hospitality businesses, S. Kusluvan, Editor, Managing employee attitudes and behaviors in the tourism and hospitality (pp ). Nova Science Publishers, New York. 13. Plaisant, O., Courtois, R., Re veille`re, C., Mendelsohn, G. A. & John, O. P. (2010). Factor structure and internal reliability of the French Big Five Inventory (BFI-Fr). Convergent and discriminant validation with the NEO-PI-R. Journal of Psychology 168, Ryckman, R.M. (1997). Theories of Personality. Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, London. 15. Sekaran, U. (2004). Research Method for Business: Skill Building Approach. 4 th ed.,singapore: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 16. Snyder, M. & Ickes, W. (1985). Personality and social behavior, in Lindzey, G. and Aronson, E. (Eds), Handbook of Social Psychology, 3 rd ed., 2, Random House, New York, NY, Tellegen, A. (1991). Personality traits: Issues of definition, evidence, and assessment. In Thinking clearly about psychology: Essays in honor of Paul E. Meehl. In D. Cicchetti & W. M. Grove (Eds.). Personality and psychopathology, 2, 6 9. Minneapolis, MN, US: University of Minnesota Press. 18. Worsfold, P. (1989). A personality profile of the hotel manager. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 8(1) Zikmund, W. G. (2003). Business Research Method. South Western, United States: Thomson. 30